Milton Hershey offered the masses what had once been a luxury for the rich—a sweet, decadent enjoyment anyone could afford—called the Hershey milk chocolate candy bar. He used modern machinery to mass produce products at a lower cost than producing them by hand. He believed the most productive workers were those who earned a real, living wage so they, too, could afford to buy the products they helped produce.
But Hershey didn’t just build a company, he built a town—with tree-lined streets of single- and two-family brick neighborhoods, quality public school systems, inexpensive public transportation, and attractive parks and recreation. Hershey and his wife poured their fortune into philanthropic foundations to provide educational and cultural opportunities for local residents. In 1918, Hershey endowed what is known today as the Milton Hershey School with his entire fortune of Hershey company stock. Appropriately, the town was renamed from Derry Township to Hershey, Pa., and remains a popular tourist attraction.
Quote: "Give them quality. That's the best kind of advertising in the world."
